My wife is Polish and my son was born in Warsaw. When he was six we had to decide whether to enrol him in a Polish or German school in the city. We decided on the German school: his whole environment was speaking Polish anyway with the neighbours and my wife's relatives; and we had heard quite a few things about Polish schools from my wife's family that put us off – children accumulate a lot of factual knowledge but do not learn to acquire knowledge independently.

The children's curiosity to discover things for themselves would rarely be encouraged. I knew after reading the annual newspaper reports on final exams that these complaints are not unfounded. It is said that the programme requires above all a good short-term memory, but is not preparing students for the university system or even "real life".

Although he had good grades, our son said he would like to switch to a Polish school when he was 15. This had to do with the fact that most foreign school pupils lived in an "intellectual ghetto" and often only stayed at the school for three or four years. Lasting friendships are hard to form. Above all, my son increasingly noticed while talking to friends his own age that he lacked technical vocabulary, which he knew only in German.

He knew exactly where he wanted to go: Raszynska Street high school. There, some subjects are taught in English and it is a "democratic school", which is rare in Poland. The school has a students' parliament, rare in Poland, where they help in decision-making. It is almost expected for pupils to get involved.

He had to pass an entrance examination due to the school's popularity. The teachers were less interested in his grades than if he would "fit in". They wanted to see if he would get involved in the school's community, whether he had an imagination and if he could independently implement school projects.

Parents are involved too. So as a German father I have participated in a few projects and of course attended the parents' days where I had to hear some criticism about my son's results and his willingness to learn. But the decision was right for all of us: the Polish school was not only a very good experience for my son, but also for me. I have learned a lot more about Poland there than in countless press conferences or politicians' briefings.

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